Everyday Life with the Straw Hats
by static848
Summary: The Straw Hat Pirates take a break from pirating during the 2 year timeskip, and are given an invitation to be homestay hosts for Liminal races such as Lamias, Centaurs, harpies, and many more. and in exchange, the world government will pardon the straw hats for their current bounty.
1. Intro

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

A One Piece X MonMusu fanfic

 **Author's notes (PLEASE READ)**

 **Even though this is categorized as a MonMusu fanfic, this story will rely on events that happened in One Piece to a minor extent, I will try not to spoil anything for readers that are not caught up with One Piece or do not read/watch it. I rarely write fanfics but this has been an idea in my head for quite some time so I decided I'd finally write it. So go easy on me if it's not very well written. I have most of the major events decided already but I am happy to accept ideas from any of you if it can fit into the story. I want this fanfic to be just as much fun for you as it will be for me. Without further delay, let the story begin!**

After the events of the MarineFord War, Luffy and his crew knew they had to become stronger in order to survive in the New World. However, their preparations for their two-year training changed when Luffy was given an invitation to be a homestay host for the Cultural Exchange Bill between Species. If Luffy accepted, he and his crew would be pardoned for their past acts of piracy, and would be given a home in Mariejois, considered to be the most luxurious location in the world where only the wealthiest and noble class can live.

The reason the world government was willing to make all these accommodations was because they saw this Cultural Exchange as a way to convince liminal governments to unite with the already powerful world government and making their political influence stronger than ever.

At first Luffy was not interested in the idea, but after much convincing from his crewmates, Luffy finally agreed. The crew thought it would be a good idea in order to lower their reputation with the general public and lie low until they eventually decide to go back out to sea, which they had every intention of doing eventually. This way they can make their preparations at their own pace and not worry about the navy hunting them down. Luffy accepted to the deal primarily because he liked the idea of meeting and seeing knew monster races. He was most likely going to ask each and every one of them 'can you poop?' as his first question.

After the decision was made, and they contacted the government that they accepted the invitation. The crew knew their next destination.

Once the crew had their ship 'The Thousand Sunny' properly set and ready for travel. Luffy climbed up to his favorite part of the ship that was right on front of the bow of the ship and shouted out one of his favorite sentences…

"LET'S SET SAIL!"


	2. Mariejois arc: part 1

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois Arc: part 1: _Docking at the Noble City_

The straw hats were almost to the Red Line, a massive continent the raps around the equator of the world. On this continent, is Mariejois; and the new home where the straw hats will be living for the near future.

"The Red Line is straight ahead Captain!" Nami shouted to Luffy as she could see a huge landmass through the early morning fog. "Franky, you ready to put those 10 liters of cola to good use?" she continued as she looked over to the man steering the ship.

"Woooow! You better believe I'm ready to put this cola to **_SUPER_** use!" Franky said as he leaned toward one side, with one leg bent and holding up his arms above his head like some action star. "This is going to be one **_SUPER_** __flight!"

Franky grabbed a big metal lever next to the steering wheel and started the countdown. "You guys ready to blast off?" Franky shouted as he put his cool-guy sunglasses over his eyes.

Luffy responded with a big optimistic "yeah! Let's go!" and that was all Franky needed to hear.

Franky took a deep breath, as if he had some internal drum-roll music playing in his head. "COUP…..DE…BURST!" shouted Franky as he violently pulled the metal lever and in seconds they blasted off into the sky like a rocket ship. The blast off had Usopp and Chopper hanging on for dear life on the side of the ship. While sanji was in the kitchen and shrugged to himself "I guess we already took off. Ah well, breakfast will be ready soon."

Zoro was in the lookout tower drinking sake in his sleep somehow and mumbled to himself in a groggy voice "can't they ever shut up? I'm try to sleep here." Robin was to busy reading her book to notice the fact that they were flying through the sky.

Brook was laughing in joy as he always loved when they flew through the sky. "I love the wind against my face, it makes me feel so alive. Oh wait, I don't have A face, and I'm not alive…Yohohohoho!"

Luffy could see that they were already so close the Mariejois that he could see the docking zone where they usually hoist the ships up out of the water. Which makes since considering the red line is like a hundred meters high. "I see where we need to land" luffy shouted as he tried to wave at Franky to get his attention. "Down there, right where all those other ships are." Franky gave Luffy a thumbs up and made the proper adjustments to his steering.

They were approaching the docking station pretty fast, probably a bit too fast. Franky pulled back on the lever to lower the thrusters on the ship and to slow them down. After a few minutes of careful steering, and Usopp silently praying that they don't die on impact. They safely landed on the docking ground.

"We finally made it" Luffy shouted. "We made it to Mariejois! And soon we'll meet our new monster friends who will be staying with us!"

Everyone else just smiled, when luffy was happy, he always had a way of making everyone else happy.


	3. Mariejois arc: part 2

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois Arc: Part 2: _Getting Settled in_

After their landing at Mariejois, the crew decided they would go and find who they were supposed to talk to about getting moved in. Franky decided he would stay back at the docking house for a little bit.

"you guys go on ahead" Franky said, "I want to make sure the Thousand Sunny gets stored properly, I take my job as our shipwright very seriously ya' know." Franky said as he glared back at one of the ship movers at the docking house walked up to inspect the ship. Franky gave him a type of glance that emphasized "don't even think about it."

Sanji shrugged and said "suit yourself, at least we know you'll find your way back to us." Sanji threw a mocking glance at Zoro. "At least you're not like moss-head over here."

"Shut it curly brow!" Zoro barked at Sanji. "I'm just stating what I know as fact" Sanji said as he adjusted his necktie. "I'm not the liar of this crew." Sanji smiled mischievously.

"That's hitting a bit below the belt, don't ya think?" Usopp said in a tone of embarrassment.

They parted ways with Franky to go look for town hall, hoping that someone there can tell them who to talk to about the homestay program. They came across a big, circular building. It had the world government flag draped over the front wall of the building with a sign that says 'welcome to Mariejois! Sign up for our new homestay program for the cultural exchange bill between species!'

"Well that's very specific" Robin says matter-of-factly.

"I guess we're at the right place." Nami says as she observes the building. "Well, we're not going to get situated by standing out here." Nami continues as she heads toward the door.

Chopper observed the pedestrians, and something occurred to him. "if Mariejois is welcoming monster races as exchange students, then why are there no other races around town?" chopper wondered. "All I see are humans."

Robin smiled at chopper, "you're quite observant, doctor."

Chopper started blushing and started dancing his signature dance when he was embarrassed. "Stop it, you think your compliments mean anything to me? I don't care, you meanie!" it was never hard to tell that chopper loved the compliments, but had a hard time expressing his gratitude. Chopper's dance made robin smile more.

They walked in the building, it was very spacious. There were a few seats, several men and women dressed in dark suits with sunglasses. They were clearly government agents of some sort. In the center of the room, there was a desk, where a young women was sitting in a chair with a headset over her ears as she was typing on the computer. The crew approached her.

"Welcome!" she said in a cheerful voice. "Welcome to Mariejois town hall. How may I help you?"

Nami, being the business-savvy one of the crew. She took charge of the conversation and asked the woman about the cultural exchange program.

"Oooh! You must be the straw hats! I've heard a lot about you guys. I'll get your house key and give you the address of the house you'll be staying in" she said joyfully. She opened the top drawer of her desk, and after a minute of searching through all her files, she pulled out a folder labeled 'straw hats'.

She handed it to Nami and said "this folder contains a 2 pairs of keys for you house, slip of paper with the house address, and a special credit card that will be charged to the government. That way you can provide for your homestay guest without worrying about money."

Nami grew a big grin on her face. Knowing she didn't have to spend her own money.

She took the folder and the crew started to walk off, chopper remembered his question and quickly stopped to ask the lady. "Excuse me miss, but why are there no other monster races in the town? On our way here, we only notice humans. Why is that?"

The woman frowned slightly at his question. "You see, a lot of people around here are not very accepting, they don't like people that aren't like themselves. They judge people purely on physical appearance. They never take personality into consideration."

Chopper pondered over this for a moment. "I understand what you mean…" he said as he lowered his hat over his eyes. This resonated with chopper on a very personal level, due to his life on Drum Island.

The crew went out through the front door to go find their new house, but as Luffy was about to pass through the front door out of the building. The woman asked a favor from him.

"Excuse me mister Luffy, sir." The woman said. "But would it be possible if you could sign this wanted poster of yours. I have a cousin who would kill me if I didn't take the opportunity to get your signature."

Luffy smiled. He grabbed a pen from the desk, and asked "who am I making it out to?"

The woman smiled "He goes by the name 'Bartolomeo'." She smiled. Luffy signed the wanted poster. And in return asked for an extra slip of paper with the address on it. He knew Zoro would need it. Then luffy waved the woman goodbye.

When Luffy left, his crew had already gone ahead without him. Luffy took the slip of paper with the address and followed the building number until he finally made it to their house. It was a very big house, at least 4 floors high. The door was already unlocked from when his crew went inside. Luffy went through the door to already see everyone making themselves at home. Sanji was already getting lunch prepared. Nami was lounging on the couch. While Usopp and Chopper were looking through a video game collection that was provided by the government as entertainment.

Zoro sat in a recliner and yawned lazily to himself. "This place isn't so bad" he said. Giving this home his approval.

Moments later, the doorbell rang. Everyone looked over to the door. Curious as to who it could be.

Luffy answered the door since he was still the closest to it when he came in. at the door, there was a woman with jet black hair, and she was wearing the same business clothes that the men and women were wearing at the town hall building.

"Hello, my name is Ms. Smith. And I'm here to introduce you to your new home-stay guest I brought with me." Ms. Smith stepped aside to show the person standing behind her. It was a girl, roughly the same age as Luffy, she had a long, red snake tail for her lower body. And a beautiful human body for her upper body. She had golden eyes with vertical, snake-like pupils, and she had bright crimson hair.

Ms. Smith just smiled at Luffy and introduced the snake girl. "Her name is Miia, and she is a Lamia."


	4. Mariejois arc: part 3

Everyday life with the Straw Hats

 **Authors notes: I just wanted to thank everyone who's been reading my story so far. It's been about a week and I already have 5 followers. That may not be much to others who write fanfics more often, but that means a lot to me. Also, I really do appreciate the reviews. I don't want to sound like someone who just writes to gain reviews, but I do appreciate the feedback and I would like to respond to as many of you readers as possible. The reviews help motivate me to write better and better. And it gives my writing purpose. Anyway, thank you for tuning into this story so far. Now onto the chapter!**

Mariejois Arc: part 3: _Miia Arrives_

Luffy stared at Ms. Smith for a few seconds, then at Miia, then back at Smith. Luffy scratched the side of his head. Luffy pointed to Miia's most obvious physical feature.

"You have a snake tail…" luffy said bluntly. Miia turned her face away, quite embarrassed by his direct statement.

"Oh no" Miia thought to herself. "He's already judging me, at this rate, I'll be seen as a freak and shunned upon by the end of the day."

Luffy's face remained enthusiastic as usual. "That's so cool!" he declared in excitement.

Miia flinched in surprise. "He…thinks my appearance is cool? Does that mean…" Miia started to blush slightly. "He likes me?"

Luffy still remained at the front door. Awe-struck at the lamia girl and her 'cool' tail. Ms. Smith made a not-so-subtle cough indicating that she wanted to come into the house.

Luffy, after finally noticing the hint, welcomed them in. Smith scanned the room, then smiled, "nice place! I'll go get some coffee." Smith walked off into the kitchen to retrieve her coffee. While Miia stood shyly behind luffy, still observing the straw hat boy who seemingly approved of her right of the bat.

"He seems nice enough," Miia said, slithering closer to Luffy to analyze his features a bit closer. "I wonder how he got that scar below his eye?" she questioned. Suddenly she started to have doubts. "Maybe he's just pretending to be nice and accepting while Ms. Smith is here. I really hope this isn't all just for show until she leaves." Miia's anxiety was returning, though she did a good enough job at not letting it show. But everyone could tell she was nervous to say the least.

Zoro spoke up. "Hey, what's wrong? You don't look very comfortable."

Miia replied shyly "I'm fine, this house is very big and spacious, and I have plenty of room to move around. Why would I be uncomfortable?"

Zoro quirked an eyebrow "that's not exactly what I meant."

Luffy looked back at her. "Yeah, you don't need to worry about anything, we're nice! And while you're here, you should try and make yourself at home!"

Her shyness slowly going away, and her hopes starting to rise. "You don't mind that I'm a lamia? Ya know, part snake?" Miia asked in a still timid tone.

Nami spoke up "what are you talking about? After all the different types of people and places we've seen. You're completely normal by our standards." Nami gave Miia a friendly wink. Trying to assure her everything was all right.

Ms. Smith walked out of the kitchen with her coffee in hand. "I'll stop by later to give you guys the official rundown, but I have a movie…um….I mean a meeting I have to go to. See ya!"

As Smith was about to open the front door. Franky opened it first and began to walk in. then he noticed Ms. Smith.

"Hello, my name is Franky. And it's **_Super_** nice to meet you! Your name?" Franky said while performing his iconic action stance.

Smith simply lowered her sunglasses and examined the man, then put her glasses back over her eyes. "My name is Ms. Smith" she began, "and next time I stop by, I would appreciate it if you wore some pants." She finished in a very professional tone of voice.

"Pants?!" Franky gasped. "But then I can't feel the breeze between my legs."

Nami just face palmed with a disgusted face.

With that. Smith left the house.

Sanji entered the living room from the kitchen. "Hey everyone, lunch is going to take a little while longer than I thought. So this would probably be the best time to start unpacking and finding your rooms."

"Aaaawwww!" Luffy groaned. "But I'm hungry."

Sanji sighed "fine, if you're that hungry, take this money and go get yourself some meat or something. I saw a butcher shop on our way here. It's somewhere down town."

Luffy grabbed the money in excitement. "Yeah, I get meat!"

Sanji snapped his fingers to get Luffy's attention again. "Hey Luffy, you should take Miia with you. Show her around the town, it will give you both time to get to know each other. I would do it myself, but I'm busy preparing lunch."

Luffy turned to Miia. "Do you want to tag along, we could go have some fun if you want." Luffy asked enthusiastically.

Miia looked at luffy and smiled. "Yes, I would like that."


	5. Mariejois arc: part 4

Everyday life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois Arc: part 4: _start of a friendship_

 **Author's notes: sorry it's been so long since the last chapter, I've been busy with various things and I had a bit of writers block. I'm going to try to get more chapters out hopefully sooner rather than later. I hope you all enjoy this new chapter and I would greatly appreciate any comments or reviews. They mean a lot to me.**

Luffy and Miia were on their way to go down to the butcher shop, Nami gave Luffy one of their maps of the city that was originally reserved for Zoro.

The weather was warm, there was a slight breeze that felt great this time of year. Luffy was marching proudly down the street eagerly waiting for his fresh meat he was going to buy at the butcher shop. Miia was slithering beside Luffy, looking at the scenery as they walked. She then looked at Luffy. "Excuse me, but I don't think I was properly introduced to you at the house. I heard your name was Luffy, is that correct?"

Luffy smiled at her brightly, "yeah! Luffy is my name, and one day I'm going to be king of the...actually, considering my friends and I are under contract, it probably would be best if I told you that another time." Luffy's grin lowered slightly, because he always loved declaring his future role as Pirate King. But this was not the time or place to declare being the future Pirate King, especially on Mariejois.

Miia looked at him in curiosity, but decided to overlook what he was about to say. "If it's important not to say, then I understand. Anyway, my name is Miia, and this is my first time traveling outside of my home town." Luffy and Miia looked at each other for a few moments then Luffy gave her his signature smile. Miia smiled back at him, feeling at ease in his presence. As if Luffy's cheerful expression was able to make all of her anxieties go away. Why did she feel drawn to him even though they just met? Perhaps Luffy just has that effect on people.

After a few more minutes of walking down the streets of the city, Luffy noticed a sign on the front of a small building, it was labeled _Chuck's prime meats._

"There it is!" Luffy shouted in excitement, drool already starting to form in his mouth, he could already tell the meat was going to be great from the smell alone.

Miia smiled at Luffy's over excitement, she thought that it was kind of cute the way he got excited for something as simple as a butcher shop.

After ten minutes of waiting for the butcher to cook the amount of food that Luffy ordered, Luffy and Miia were on their way back to the house. Luffy was eating a drumstick as they walked and Miia was eating a complimentary biscuit that came with their food.

"You sure do like food, don't you Luffy?" Miia smiled at him as they walked down the street that led them back to the house.

"You bet! Meat is my favorite kind of food, I'll eat any kind! As long as it tastes good." Luffy said, clearly happy now that his hunger was satisfied. A few moments later, 3 guys walked out of an alleyway and noticed Luffy and Miia.

"What the Hell is that thing?!" the first guy said, looking at Miia in disgust.

"I think it's a snake lady, she looks so weird with that long tail of hers! Ha ha ha." The second guy said, laughing at the sight of Miia.

The third guy looked grossed out and covered his mouth. "So gross, it's hideous! Somebody get rid of that thing!"

They were all taunting her in their own juvenile way. Miia started to get teary eyed, and lowered her head in embarrassment.

"Why do people have to treat me this way?" Miia thought to herself, trying to fight back tears. "I was having such a good day today, I met someone who accepted me for who I was." Miia looked up at Luffy, she was happy that at least he saw her as a normal girl. "And now these guys came out of nowhere and are trying to ruin it." Miia was looking down at the ground, trying to hide her tears from Luffy. Luffy, on the other hand, looked angry, he had a very stern look on his face, the kind he would have right before he got super serious. Luffy walked up to the 3 street thugs in complete silence. He didn't say a word until he was right in front of them.

Luffy pulled back his hat and looked them in the eye. And said, "Do you realize what you did?"

The first street thug says "what's your problem? Dude, get lost!"

Luffy takes a breath, then repeats "do you realize what you did?" this time, Luffy said it more firmly.

"Do you know who you're dealing with? We're the street badgers! You don't want to mess with us!" the second thug stated. He was leaning in towards Luffy.

Luffy sighed, took of his hat and sat it on the ground. "I tried to ask you politely. But you wouldn't listen." Luffy said, a smile grew on his face as he cracked his knuckles. "I'll tell you what you did…"

Luffy pulled back his right fist and quickly punched the second thug in the face with all his might. "YOU MADE MIIA CRY!" the thug fell on the ground, rolling in pain.

Before the other two thugs could react, Luffy kicked the first one in the stomach which knocked him to the ground, and the last guy tried to rush Luffy. Luffy responded by ramming his own head against the thugs, but Luffy coated his head in armament Haki to deal twice the damage.

In a matter of minutes, all three guys were lying helplessly on the ground. Luffy picked up his hat, dusted it off, and put it back on his head.

Miia looked shocked at what just happened, she looked at Luffy in astonishment and asked "why did you do that?"

Luffy gave her a big smile and said "it's because they hurt your feelings and made you cry. I won't let anybody make my friends cry!" Luffy grabbed the bags of meat and they started walking back to the house with no more unpleasant interruptions.

Miia followed closely behind Luffy, she smiled at him and blushed "thank you for caring about me…Darling."


	6. Mariejois arc: part 5

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois Arc: part 5: _A festive Lunch_

"We're Baaaack!" Luffy declared as he and Miia came walking in through the front door. Luffy was already getting hungry again as he could smell the lunch sanji had been cooking.

"I know what you are going to ask luffy, and to answer your question; lunch is ready." Sanji said as he finished preparing the last 2 plates. Sanji put all the steaming plates on the kitchen table and filled each of the glasses with everyone's favorite drink. Apple juice for luffy, tangerine juice for nami, chocolate milk for chopper, tea for brook, coffee for robin, cola for franky, lemonade for usopp, sake for zoro, and wine for himself.

"What would you like to drink?" sanji asked miia as everyone started to take their seat at the dinner table.

Miia looked at luffy and gave him a small suggestive smile, "I'll have what darling is having, some apple juice please."

Sanji was confused by miia's sudden nickname for luffy, but he decided to just ignore it and he gave her a cup of apple juice.

Miia took her seat right beside luffy. Miia even scooted her chair as close to luffy's chair as possible. Everyone started to notice how much miia wanted to be around luffy, but they figured it would be best just to overlook it and not make things awkward.

Nami decided to try and start a conversation to break the silence, "so miia, why did you decide to enroll in this exchange program?" nami asked curiously.

Miia smiled at the question, "I wanted to see what the world was like outside of my home village, most lamias never get many opportunities to leave their village and see other parts of the world, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to meet new people and make new friends!"

"Have you been enjoying your time here so far? I know it's the first day, but do you think you will like it here?" Robin asked miia after taking a sip from her coffee.

"Oh yes! This city is really amazing, and the scenery I saw on the way to the butcher shop and back was really beautiful." Miia said with excitement, everyone could tell she was excited to have new people she could talk to and that everyone was so accepting of her. "I'm glad I'm able to stay with such nice people!" miia finished happily. Miia started to rap her tail around Luffy's waist underneath the kitchen table. She smiled and said to everybody "I can tell I'm going to enjoy my time here with everyone!"

Miia whispered into Luffy's ear in a seductive tone, "I'm definitely going to enjoy my time with you darling." Luffy looked at her, still chewing his food, but gave her a thumbs up, completely oblivious to her obvious flirting.

After about a half an hour, everybody was finishing up their food and taking their dished to the sink where sanji was about to start cleaning them. Nami pointed out, "you know sanji, this house has a dishwasher. You don't have to clean them by hand."

Sanji let out a light laugh, "don't worry about that, I can get these dishes ten times more clean than any dishwasher, this is my area of expertise." He said.

Luffy noticed that his clothes were a bit dirty, "I'm going to put these clothes in the washing machine and I'm going to take a bath, so be sure to remember that before you come walking in." Luffy headed to the shower room.

As luffy walked away, miia was looking at mischievously, she had an idea, and it certainly involved being in that shower room with luffy. Miia thought to herself, "don't worry darling, there's no need to lock the door, I'll meet you in there soon."


	7. Mariejois arc: part 6

Everyday life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois Arc: part 6: _Gomu Gomu no steamy Bubble-bath!_

The bath water was finally at the perfect temperature, nice and hot without being feeling like he was boiling. He removed his clothes and tossed them into a dirty laundry pile. He slowly stepped into the hot bath and let out a relaxing sigh.

"Aaaaahhhhhh…." Luffy breathed happily. "This is nice, but bubbles would make this even better, and maybe some meat." He reached for the bubble bath bottle and started to squirt some into the tub.

"that's strange," he thought to himself, "I was able to stretch when I reached to grab this bottle, is this some type of special water?" luffy decided it wasn't worth thinking about now, and that he just wanted to relax. He laid back as the bubbles started to rise up to his face.

He started to close his eyes, but then he heard the bathroom door slowly open. He looked to the entrance to see miia standing there with a bath towel in one hand. She had long red hair typed up in a bun to keep the water out of her face. She put the towel beside the tub and slowly leaned forward to ask luffy something.

"Do you mind if I join you darling?" she said softly, her cheeks blushing a bright red.

Luffy had a dumb-founded look on his face, completely confused by this sudden turn of events.

"W-why do you want to be in here, miia? I'm just taking a bath." Luffy said with nervous tone in his voice. Even though luffy may not be the brightest of individuals, he was starting to finally pick up on Miia's not-so-subtle clues. Before luffy could say anything else, miia got into the bathtub with _him, it was modified with they moved here to be able to fit many types of liminals. Including lamias._

Miia started to rap her tail around Luffy's waist as she was leaning closer and closer into luffy. Luffy's mind was drawing a blank, unsure of what to do.

"I just want you to know how grateful I am darling, how you defended me from those mean guys on our way home from the butcher shop. That was the first time that anyone who wasn't a lamia accepted me for who I was. You said we were 'friends', but I want to be more than that." Miia whispered into his ears. Luffy was completely numb, it was a mix between being incredibly nervous and being shell-shocked. He just sat there, unresponsive. His facing turning red and his whole body sweating from anxiety.

Miia smiled, "would you like me to help you feel better darling? I know what I can do to help you relax." She looked at him and gave him a flirty wink. She started to move her hands towards down his chest.

She noticed the scar on his chest shaped like an 'X', "oooohhh…my darling has quite the battle scar, you really are a manly man." She said in a flirty tone.

Luffy was really starting to worry on what she was about to do next, as she started to look at his lower body and gave him a mischievous smile, he had a bad feeling he knew what she was going to do.

Suddenly, someone started knocking on the bathroom door. "Hey luffy! I need a turn in the shower, so it's time to get out!" called nami from the other side of the door.

Luffy started to rise out of the bathtub, relieved that he was saved at the last second.

Miia looked to be disappointed at the sudden interruption between her and Luffy's "special" bath. Luffy was already drying off and putting his clean clothes on.

Miia says in a tone of disappointment, "Oh darling, we were so close! If only we had a few extra minutes."

Luffy finished putting on the last of his clothes, and replied "oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to happen." He did a good job at hiding his smile of relief, he was certainly thankful that they were interrupted before something actually happened. He walked to door and started to turn the door knob. He looked back and saw that miia was still bummed about not being able to finish what she had planned. He smiled and stretched his other arm out to take her hand. "Don't worry miia, we still can spend the rest of the day doing other things together."

Miia looked up to see his stretched out arm. Miia gasped "your arm! Why is it stretching?!" luffy let out a light laugh, and replied "don't worry about that, I have the ability to stretch any part of my body, I can explain it to you later if you want, but first let's get out of here so nami can use the shower."

Miia gave luffy a warm smile, "ok darling, I'll get out of the bathtub and we can do something else." She took his hand and made her way out of the bathtub. Luffy smiled at her and left the bathroom and closed the door so she could get dried off and dressed. Miia thought to herself as she was starting to get dressed, "my darling is really someone special, and I'll do whatever it takes to be his one and only love. I promise you that, darling."

NEXT CHAPTER: Centorea Arrives…


	8. Mariejois arc: part 7

Everyday life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois Arc: part 7: _Centorea Arrives_

it was early morning the next day, and everybody except for Zoro was still asleep. The previous evening enjoyable, they played board games, watched some movies, and miia never left luffy's side the entire time, always keeping him in arms reach. "she really took a liking to luffy" Zoro thought to himself as he walked down streets of the city, with the cool morning air hitting his face. Zoro decided to take a seat on a nearby bench and take a drink of his early morning booze, and appreciate the peaceful morning. However, after a few minutes of relaxing on the city bench, someone who was busy reading a book while they were walking accidentally bumped into zoro, which made him spill his alcohol on his shoes. The person who was reading their book looked up to quickly apologize.

"I'm so sorry sir, I should have paid better attention where I was going." The person said.

Zoro looked up to see women with long blonde hair in a ponytail, and had pointed ears that were covered in brown fur. Then, of course, he noticed the rest of her body, she was a centaur; a race that has the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse.

"I'm truly sorry, usually I wouldn't be so careless." The centaur continued, clearly trying to convince zoro for forgiveness.

Zoro gave a low sigh and grabbed his sake bottle, "its fine, don't worry about it," he said, "these things happen here and there, no reason to be that upset about it." Zoro gave her a warm smile, "but a do appreciate the apology, whenever someone spills my drink, they usually just shrug and give a half-attempt 'sorry' or 'my bad' and then walk off. I appreciate that you at least care enough."

Zoro stuck out his hand and said "my name is Roronoa Zoro, what's yours?"

The centaur girl stood there shyly for a moment, clearly caught off guard by zoro's sudden attempt at making hand contact, even if it was just a handshake. The girl smiled, there was a small blush to her cheeks, she grabbed zoro's hand and gave him a gentle handshake. She said "my name is Centorea Shianus, it is a pleasure to meet you Roronoa Zoro."

Zoro gave her another warm smile, "you can just call me zoro, everyone else does."

Centorea smiled back, "very well…zoro." She paused for a moment, unsure of what to say next, there was something she clearly wanted to say, but unsure on how to go about it. She took a breath, then added, "I've been studying…that in some cultures, people that come across each other in situations like these…they are destined to be soulmates." She was blushing quite red. Zoro had a confused look on his face.

"where did you hear that?" he asked, still bewildered at what culture would follow such a tradition.

She held out the book she was reading, it was romance light novel. Centorea continued to explain her reasoning. "in this novel, a young man and women meet each other while walking through the city, they first start out as friends, but then eventually become romantically interested in one another, and one thing leads to the next." She was still blushing quite a lot. "clearly this novel must be based on some aspects of human culture, so I curious if this aspect of the story holds true."

Zoro let out a playful laugh, "you don't have to worry about that, it's a fictional novel. I wouldn't say its impossible for two people who meet each other by accident to form a romantic relationship, but its not as common as many love stories make it out to be."

"I see…" Centorea replied. she was pondering the information zoro provided, then came a conclusion. "so this novel, and what it says about human culture, is only partially true, and the rest is an exaggeration of the truth?" she finished.

Zoro gave her a small shrug and replied, "I guess you could say that, but most people don't read stories for how factual they are, my friend robin enjoys all types of stories, whether the books are fact or fiction."

Centorea smiled, "I'm glad to hear that, I rather prefer the fictional stories myself anyway. Especially the _Lord of the Rings_ books."

Zoro looked at his watch and saw that it was around the time when everyone else would be getting out of bed. "If you're not too busy, would you like to meet my friends, I think you and my friend robin would enjoy talking about different types of books." Zoro offered.

Centorea looked quite happy at zoro's offer to come visit him at his house and meet his friends. "I would very much enjoy that." She said, it was easy to hear the excitement in her voice, even if she was trying to hold it back.

Suddenly, a man wearing a leather jacket and riding a motorcycle came zooming down the street, a shopkeeper came running down the street, panting and out of breath. He turned to zoro and Centorea and said in between pants "that guy on the motorcycle stole the money from my shop, can you please stop him for me? I'm desperate!"

Centorea removed an iron sword from a sword holster she had around her human waist. "of course I will help you, it is my duty as a noble centaur to help those who can't help themselves against the forces of injustice!" she turned to zoro and said, "will you help me zoro? Because I came to this city as a member who signed up for the cultural exchange program, I can't go too far away from the cultural exchange office building without a human to accompany me. Without you, I can't go any further than this street block by myself."

Zoro took his bandana and tied it around his forehead, "I don't mind, let's go catch that thief!"

Centorea smiled, but then she told zoro in a somewhat nervous tone, "however, I can't allow you to ride on my back. You see…in my culture, that is a privilege only given to someone I choose to be my master. In centaur culture, in very similar to marriage." She was blushing, but explained that he would have to find another way to keep up with her if they were going to catch that thief in time.

The shopkeeper grabbed a bicycle he had in front of his store and told zoro he could use it. "this is what my employee uses to deliver orders to our customers, he had the day off today, so you can use it. I would use it myself to catch the thief, but I'm not as physically fit as I used to be."

Zoro got on the bike, and in a matter of minutes, zoro and Centorea where off to catch that thief.


	9. Mariejois arc: part 8

Everyday life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois Arc: part 8: _Zoro Takes a Stand_

 **Author's notes: one of my reviews mentioned that they hoped zoro will still continue to have his signature serious/grumpy attitude. I thought that was a fair point to make, so I'll state it here that way anyone who also feels the same way won't have to worry, zoro will still continue to have his grumpy attitude, I simply chose to make him more friendly in the previous chapter to make a good first impression between zoro and Centorea, but zoro will still act in his usual way when around the other straw hats. I hope that clears things up for anyone who was curious about that. Anyway, here is the next chapter!**

Zoro and Centorea were heading after the thief on the motorcycle, the motorcycle must have had an oil leak, because there was oil trail the motorcycle left behind, which made it very easy for zoro and Centorea to follow him. Eventually, they saw him in the distance.

"over there! I see him!" Centorea pointed out.

The thief was off his motorcycle, and was ordering some food from a hotdog stand, as he started to eat it, he looked over and saw zoro and Centorea coming right towards him. He spat out his chewed food and screamed as he started to make a run for it with the money bag in one hand. "Shit! They're after me! All I wanted was some money, if I knew that shopkeeper had a horsewomen working for him, I would have robbed somewhere else!" he ran behind the hotdog stand, asking the guy who was selling the hotdogs to try and reason with them. "please man, you gotta help me! Try reasoning with them. After all, I just bought one of your hotdogs, it's the least you can do!"

The hotdog guy clearly did not want to get involved with this, but asked anyway. "excuse me! But what did this man do? Lets try to handle this peacefully if possible." The hotdog guy said, clearly nervous as he lowered himself behind the hotdog stand.

Centorea answered with stern look on her face, pointing her finger at the thief. "he stole money from a local shop! And he tried to get away by motorcycle!"

The hotdog guy looked even more scared now, he turned to the thief with a look of complete fear. "WHAT! I don't want anything to do with this! Please don't steal my money too!" the hotdog guy said with a trembling voice.

The thief quickly tried to act all sympathetic, he even was using the puppy dog eyes. "please help me, mister hot dog guy, I know you will do the right thing. Remember, I bought one of your hot dogs."

"BUYING A DAMN HOTDOG IS HARDLY ENOUGH TO MAKE ME HELP A CRIMINAL!" the hotdog guy shouted. He then ran away, down the street calling for help.

Zoro watched the hotdog guy ran away, flailing his arms in the air like a madman as he cried for the police. "what a coward, he probably doesn't even know where the police station is." Zoro grumbled to himself. "I hate it when people can't remember simple directions, it's not that damn hard." Zoro thought to himself, shaking his head annoyance.

The thief Was now trying to reason with Centorea. "I know! Lets make a deal, you leave me alone, and I use some of my money to buy you a saddle. I know horses love saddles!" the thief said in a desperate attempt to reason with Centorea, he was even trying to act cool and convincing.

Centorea's eyes stared straight into his, her eyes narrowed and became quite fierce. "what…did you say?" she said, she began to clench one of her fists. "did you say…a saddle?" she started to grind her teeth together in anger.

Zoro had a look on his face, the kind of look someone has when they're thinking "oh boy, shits about to go down."

Centorea clenched her hand around her sword even tighter, and shouted. "HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME IN SUCH A WAY! I AM NO 'HORSE'!" she slashed her sword in the air, trying to scare the thief and make him realize the mistake he just made.

He ran into an alleyway behind him. But there was a dead end.

Zoro and Centorea walking into the alleyway, Centorea still had the fierce look in her eyes.

The thief started to panic, but then he noticed there was a long, jagged piece of metal that he could use as a make-shift sword. He hid it behind his back, waiting for the moment to strike.

Zoro and Centorea were now only five feet away from the thief, unaware of the weapon he had behind his back.

Centorea started to slowly walk even closer. Still completely enraged by his insult. "I am a centaur! I am a part of a noble race, to compare me to just a simple horse is unforgivable! I must teach you some manners!" Centorea said with a heated tone.

Centorea was too angry to notice, but zoro noticed the thief was slowly starting pull something out from behind his back. Waiting for Centorea to be in reach.

"TAKE THIS!" the thief shouted as he swung the sharp piece of metal downwards to her head. Suddenly, there was a clank of two piece of metal hitting each other.

(for this part, que one piece OST: the very very very strongest)

All of a sudden, Zoro was blocking the overhead attack that was intended for Centorea with two of his own swords.

"how dare you…" zoro said in anger, "attack someone who wasn't readily prepared. You chose the day to wield a sword, even if it is just scrap metal." Zoro's open eye narrowed in anger. "you just pissed off the wrong swordsmen."

The thief was frightened and taken off guard, but then he thought that zoro was bluffing. "nice try, but you wouldn't dare…" the thief said arrogantly. "you act like you are hot shit, but I can see you lost an eye, no one who is truly skilled would receive such an easy injury."

Zoro gave him an intimidating smirk, "I could show you what my injured eye looks like, but I wouldn't waste showing it on a piece of shit like you." Zoro growled. Zoro pushed back the jagged scrap metal back and quickly cut the rusty metal weapon in to several smaller pieces while the scrap metal was still in the air.

The thief looked completely shocked, and scared at the same time. He fell on his knees, and begged for mercy.

Zoro just looked at the pitiful thief and let out a sigh. "you really are pathetic, I will let you off the hook, but first you have to apologize to Centorea." Zoro stated.

"I'M SO SORRY! I'LL NEVER SAY ANYTHING INSULTING AGAIN OR STEAL ANYTHING AGAIN! I PROMISE!" the thief shouted while crying like the little wimp he was.

Suddenly. They all heard a voice from behind them. "that's enough, I'll take it from here." The voice said.

Zoro and Centorea turned around to see Ms. Smith standing there with handcuffs in one hand.

"I was in the area when some guy wearing a hotdog hat came running up to me telling me about some thief in this location." Ms. Smith smiled and told zoro and Centorea that they could go if they wanted, and that she would take this thief to the local jail.

Zoro and Centorea started to walk back to the house where the straw hats were living, just like they originally planned before the thief came driving past them on the motorcycle.

Centorea was starting to blush, "you know zoro, what you did back there, jumping in between me and the blade to block with your swords was really brave." She said, her blushing cheeks becoming more red.

Zoro scratched the back of his head, kind of embarrassed by the sudden thanks. "I-it's no problem, it wasn't that big a deal, no need to thank me." He said, starting to feel awkward at the situation.

"that's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me, no one has ever risked their life for me." Said Centorea.

"I appreciate the thanks, but it no problem, really, I wasn't even hurt." Zoro replied.

"but it was the thought that counts, you were not hurt, but you were willing to take the risk for me. And, I feel like, I finally know who I want to be my 'partner'." said Centorea. Her blushing becoming an incredibly bright red.

Zoro quirked an eyebrow, "who would that be?" he asked.

"…you." Centorea said, putting her hands on her cheeks trying to hide the blushing. "a-and, I was wondering, could you call me 'Cerea', that's what all my closest friends call me."

Zoro's cheeks started to turn a light red, not nearly as bright a red as cerea's cheeks. "um, okay…Cerea."

"thank you." Cerea replied, then she thought to herself, "I know he is the right choice, I'm so glad I was able to meet you today…Master."


	10. Mariejois arc: part 9

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm back! Sorry it took so long, but this summer has been super busy, I had three weddings I had to go to and find a new job, but enough about that. The next chapter is finally here! And I'm actually planning on making a short spin-off fanfiction based off this one. It will be titled** _ **Everyday Life with the Straw Hats: Love is Gold.**_ **And it will be based off of the most recent One piece movie** _ **One Piece Film Gold**_ **(don't worry, I'm making up a new story for this one that won't spoil the plot of the movie. in fact, I haven't even seen the movie myself.) so keep an eye out for that fanfic, it is still a One Piece X Monster Musume crossover. But enough about that, on to the new chapter!**

Mariejois Arc: part 9: _A New_ _Home-stay_

Zoro and Centorea arrived back at the house. To Zoro's surprise, everybody was already up and about, and it looked like Sanji was about to prepare breakfast.

"Huh, I didn't think you'd already be up, considering how much of a lazy ass you are." Zoro said towards Sanji. "I thought you'd still be in bed spooning your waifu body pillows." Zoro added with cunning grin on his face.

"OF COURSE I'M UP MOSSHEAD! IF IT WASN'T FOR ME, YOU'D STARVED TO DEATH BACK IN EAST BLUE!" Sanji roared back at his rival. "And I'm pretty confident you'd be eating rocks and dirt for dinner if it wasn't for me!" Sanji finished with his curly eye brows on edge with anger.

"Wait a minute? We could have been eating rocks and dirt? Awesome!" Luffy said from across the room while sitting on the couch next to Miia, with her tail tightly wrapped around him while smothering him with affection.

"I don't know if that sounds that tasty to be quite honest darling" Miia whispered to Luffy. "On the other hand, eggs would be a great meal!" just the thought of eggs made Miia smile.

"Pardon me Master. But did he just say you came from the East Blue? I've heard stories of the 4 blue oceans." Centorea asked Zoro with a look of curiosity.

Zoro smiled back at her, "yeah, that's where I met these people, well, most of them anyway." Zoro's face then turned to one of disgust when he looked back at sanji. "And that's where we met this half-assed chef. You see Cerea, we found him at a floating restaurant, and he was so pathetic and worthless that we let him join our crew out of pity. In fact, we constantly tell him his food is delicious just to let him feel good about himself, but in reality, it tastes like hell."

Centorea raised her index finger to her chin with a thought-provoked look on her face. "I see, well I appreciate your willingness to tell me so master."

"Now look what you did! You made her think my food is nasty!" Sanji cried out in rage.

Sanji and Zoro started fighting again when suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Brook went to go answer the door, it was Miss Smith.

"Hello everyone and good morning, can I have some coffee before we start?"

Robin spoke up and asked "start what?"

Miss Smith already was in the kitchen preparing her drink and replied "Miia's and Centorea's paperwork of course, once that is filled out, they will officially be living here as home-stay guests."

Everybody had a confused look on their face. Especially Cerea

"I-I can stay here?" Cerea asked in a mixed tone of excitement and confusion.

Miss Smith just smiled and said "that's what the paperwork is for."


	11. Love is Gold: part 1

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats: _Love is Gold_

A One Piece x Monster Musume Special Event!

 **Author's note** **(Please Read):** **this is a special story event I've been wanting to do for the last couple of weeks, this is a "filler arc" of sorts that takes place within my fanfiction but does not directly tie into it, I want to make it clear that this story special will not replace my current storyline within my fanfic, but is simply a temporary mini-story. And when it finishes, I'll go back to the original storyline, or I can write chapters for each of these stories simultaneously if you guys would prefer it that way, just let me know and I'll make adjustments accordingly. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this special mini-story event and stay** _ **Golden!**_

 **P.S. this does reveal which straw hats end up with which girls, so if you'd rather not be spoiled, then don't read this for now, but if you don't mind finding out a little bit early, then read on!**

Love is Gold: part 1: The Ultimate Entertainment! Gran Tesoro.

The straw hats were travelling through the new world, trying to find a special island of sorts.

"Where is it? We should have found it by now." Luffy said, watching the seas from the crow's nest.

"According to the map, it should be around here somewhere." Nami said as she made adjustments to the steering wheel.

"Oooohhhh Darliiiing!" miia called as she came out of the kitchen with a platter of egg-salad sandwiches. "I made these special sandwiches just for you Darling! Sanji even helped me prepare them." Miia said to luffy as he started climbing down from the crow's nest, luffy saw a huge blush on her face.

"Oh, thanks miia! I'm starving." Luffy stated as he started eating the first sandwich.

"Anything for my darling! And I mean _anything!_ " miia replied as she started wrapping her tail slowly around his waist, wanting to pull him in for a hug.

Before she could though, there was a sudden burst of glimmering light in the night sky.

"Could that be it?" usopp asked nami as he was preparing a few of his signature green star pellets. Usopp even created a new net for his slingshot made out of some of his girlfriend's webs. "Thanks again for letting me use your webs for my slingshot Rachnea."

Rachnera smiled at him with a flirty look and replied "don't mention it, you are my honey after all, remember?" she said as she walked over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

When they all got a better view of the island, they realized it wasn't an island at all.

"This is it, everybody!" nami declared to everybody. "We've finally made it! To the legendary entertainment city Gran Tesoro. Home to the world famous….Gild Tesoro!"

 **End of part 1**


	12. Mariejois arc: part 10

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois arc: part 10: _Foreshadowing of the "Will"_

"the official paperwork is finally complete" Ms. Smith said as she took a sip from her coffee, "Miia and Centorea are now officially home-stay guests of this residence, and you nine individuals are officially their hosts until further notice."

"YAAAY!" Miia shouted as she once again wrapped up Luffy within her tail and tightly embracing him with love. "now that we are officially living together darling, its almost as if we're…married." Miia whispered into Luffy's ear, but of course Luffy is not at all picking up on her romantic hints…no matter how obvious they are.

"if you say so Miia…hey! We should all go out to eat and celebrate! I could really go for some meat right about now." Luffy declared with his a big enthusiastic grin on his face.

"great idea darling! Then maybe afterwards Nami, Robin, Centorea, and I could go shopping." Miia suggested.

"I like the way you think Miia, a girl can never have enough clothes." Nami stated with her hands on her hips. Already beginning to think of what fashion is trendy at the moment. "by the way Miia…I would love to know where you got those "D" shaped hair clips. They look absolutely beautiful." Asked Nami.

Miia seemed genuinely pleased by the compliment. "thank you, but I'm afraid these hair clips can't be bought anywhere."

Nami's face saddened a little bit at that statement, "oh that's a bummer, but then how did you get them?"

"well you see," Miia began. "these hair clips represent something very special back in my home village."

"oh…so it's a cultural thing?" Nami asked in curiosity.

"kind of but not exactly, these hair clips symbolize something unique to my home village specifically."

"how so?" Robin asked as she took a closer seat.

Miia replied, "have you ever heard of…. _The Will of D?"_

 **Author's notes: what could this secret be?! How does Miia's home village tie into the** _ **Will of D?**_ **what could this mean for Luffy since he carries that will in his bloodline? Stay tuned to find out!**

 **P.S. the "love is Gold" special will continue, I will be updating that alongside the main storyline.**


	13. Mariejois arc: part 11

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

 **Author's Notes: hello again, for anyone who wonders why it sometimes takes so long for me to get chapters out, its because I've been very busy with college assignments in addition to my new job I've had for a few months now. But don't worry, the story is not ending any time soon. In fact, the story is FAAAAR from over. Keep in mind that this is the "Mariejois arc" and that there will be many more "arcs" that follow after this one. As for that "love is gold" special arc I had planned, I'm gonna put it on hold for a while until I have time to completely fine tune it. It is based off the most recent One Piece film, called** _ **Film Gold**_ **for those who weren't aware. I'm hoping to have this arc finished relatively soon. Still gotta introduce Mero, Rachnera, and papi. (Suu and Lala will join the story, but probably not till later on, still trying to figure out how I can add them to the story but in a fitting way.) I already have some big things planned for my next arc. I don't wanna give to much away, but it will be titled the** _ **Liminal Tournament arc**_ **. It will involve the straw hats joining a secret underground fighting tournament between humans and liminals. Anyway, here is this chapter, enjoy!**

Mariejois arc: part 11: Eating out with Friends part 1

"Are we almost there? I'm hungry…" Luffy moaned as his rubber stomach started to growl.

"You're always hungry dumbass, what's new?" Zoro snapped at Luffy, annoyed by his complaining.

"I can't help it, eating is what I do best! Well, that and stretching." Luffy said, pulling at his elastic cheeks.

"by the way darling, that story you told me about how you got this ability…you know, the story you told me after we got out of the bath together. Are there a lot of these "devil fruits" in the world?" Miia questioned, she had a perplexed look on her face. Trying to fathom how a fruit can give someone powers.

Her rubber hero smiled, "yeah! There's lots of them…for example, Brook and Chopper both have devil fruit abilities."

"Yes that is true…" Brook replied, taking a sip from a cup of tea he brought with him. "I ate the _Revive-Revive Fruit_ which allows me to come back to life after I've died. This is why I look like a skeleton." Brook then took a step closer to Miia, and adjusted his top hat. "I've been meaning to ask you something, Miss Miia…..may I see your panties? That is….if you wear any."

Miia slapped Brook with her tail with an infuriated look on her face. "Of course I wear them! And besides, there is only one man who would ever have that privilege!" Miia's expression turned from anger to a love-struck look instantly. She turned to face Luffy with a dreamy look in her eyes. "The only one who would ever be able to see something so personal is my lover. Isn't that right darling?" Miia asked Luffy in a romantic tone of voice.

Unfortunately for Miia, Luffy was too busy thinking of food.

"by the way Miia, about that story you were telling us…about the _Will of D._ we never heard the rest of what you had to say." Robin asked.

"Oh, yeah. On second thought, maybe I'll tell you guys at a later time, if it's all the same to you." Miia said. With a sudden look of worry and concern. "It's a story that my village holds very dear to us. But with recent events back at my home village, it's….very sad to talk about."

"Finally, we made it to this restaurant." Zoro said, "This food better be damn good if it took this long to walk here." Then Zoro gave Sanji a smug smile, "although, I'm sure it beats that shitty food you call fine dining, right eyebrows?"

Sanji just gave Zoro a silent look as he gave him the middle finger and said, "at least I can walk in a straight line without needing to ask for directions."

Zoro's face turned from a smug look to one of being utterly pissed off.

"Enough talking, let's go in and eat for crying out loud!" Luffy declared with his hands raised in the air. "I. Want. Meat!"

 **End of part 1**


	14. Mariejois arc: part 12

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois Arc: part 12: _Eating out with Friends part 2_

The gang walked inside the restaurant and they could already smell all the delicious food. A waitress quickly walked up to them in order to greet them.

"Hello there! Welcome to _Home Style Buffet_ , how may I help you this fine afternoon?" she greeted with a smile.

Nami quickly walked up to the front of the group to talk to the waitress. "Yes, we would like an extra-long table for my friends and I." Nami passed a 50 beri bill and whispered "and make it snappy."

The waitress nodded her head and took the money, quickly guiding them to their table. They took their seats and made their orders, and the waitress went to go get them their food and drinks. "I will be right back with your things." She said as she left.

"So….." Zoro started, looking at Cerea, "what is your hometown like? Where is it located?" Zoro asked.

Cerea smiled at the question, she was obviously happy to tell her master about her life and culture. "My home is within the kingdom of Camelot, it's a prestigious kingdom where only the finest of warriors reside." She said with a strong sense of pride upon her face. "As for where it's located, it's on the other side of the red line, the sea that is commonly known as _The New World_."

That caught Luffy's attention. "The New World?! You came from the New World! Someday we are going to travel there and explore it to its fullest!" Luffy declared in excitement.

Cerea smiled at him, and then looked at Zoro warmly, "I would be honored if you all come visit my home someday, I would especially like to show you my family, if you wouldn't mind it…master." Cerea said, trying to hide her blush.

"Master?" Zoro stated, with a confused look on his face.

"Yes, um…you see," Cerea had an embarrassed look on her face, trying to find the right words to express what she meant. "It's common within my culture for a centaur to pick a master, someone who they stand by through life and death, an eternal partner who they will fight side by side with."

Zoro still had a perplexed look on his face, but he gave her a reassuring grin. "Well, it that's the case, Cerea, and then you chose the right person to be your master." Zoro said, "Because I'm going to be the world's best swordsmen."

"Really? Wow, that's quite the goal, but I will do whatever I can to help you achieve it!" Cerea declared.

"Yeah, all I have to do is beat Mihawk in one-on-one combat!" Zoro proclaimed boldly.

"Oh, is that who you have to defeat in order to achieve your goal? Sir Dracule?" Cerea asked.

"Wait…you know him?!" Zoro responded, shell shocked.

"Yes" Cerea replied. "In fact, the kingdom of Camelot has a treaty with Sir Dracule Mihawk. He helps protect our kingdom, and in exchange, we pay him some of our treasury each month."

"Well" Zoro began, a competitive expression growing on his face, "I guess I will be visiting your kingdom no matter what, sooner or later."

The waitress returned with their meals and drinks. "Here you go, I hope your meals are all to your liking, enjoy!" and with that, the waitress left.

Luffy began stuffing his face with the platter of various meats he ordered. "This is so good! I love meat!" Luffy cried with tears of joy pouring from his eyes."

Miia was eating the scrambled eggs she ordered, "it's been awhile since I've had scrambled eggs, these taste really good!"

Sanji, on the other hand was barely touching his food, he had a bitter expression on his face.

"What's the matter Sanji? Why aren't you eating?" Luffy asked between bites.

"Its…" Sanji started, with a distraught tone in his voice. "its just….why do you and moss-head have girlfriends and I don't. it's not fair! I've been trying to be on my best behavior and not let it get to me, but its really hard when I see you two with girls who love you and I got nothing." Sanji laid his face in his hands, mopping the words "its not fair" over and over.

Zoro, being the eternal rival to Sanji, took this golden opportunity to explain _why_ Sanji didn't have a girlfriend.

"It's because you're a creepy pervert." Zoro stated matter-of-factly.

Sanji's sorrow quickly turned to anger at Zoro's words, refusing to let Zoro have the last say. "That is not true! My heart is pure! If I had a girlfriend I could prove it to you. I was hoping I would meet a nice liminal girl who would share my feelings, but so far, it's been you and Luffy who has been having all the luck."

Nami patted Sanji's back, "there there," she said, "When we go to fishman island, there will be plenty of nice mermaids who may be attracted to you."

"Ha! The day Sanji gets a mermaid for a girlfriend, is the day I say his food is delicious!" Zoro laughed.

Sanji stood up from his seat, with anger in his eyes, which was being aimed solely at Zoro.

"I don't have to take your harassment, enjoy your lunch everyone, because I'm heading back to the house. Good day." And with that, Sanji walked out of the restaurant.

 **Next Chapter: Mero Arrives…**


	15. Mariejois arc: part 13

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

 **Author's Notes: hello to all who are reading this, I wanted to make state that the** ** _Mariejois Arc_** **is quickly approaching its end, but there are still a few character introductions I want to make before I move on to the next arc I have planned. The next arc will be titled** ** _Liminal Tournament Arc_** **. But before I get ahead of myself. I wanted to take this moment to ask for a few suggestions. I am aiming to include Papi and Rachnea before the end of the** ** _Mariejois Arc_** **. But I'm having a bit of a difficult time coming up with a good way to include Rachnea. I've been trying to think of a fitting way but have been having trouble coming up with one that I really like. So if anyone who is reading this can suggest any ideas on how to include Rachnea into the story, I would greatly appreciate it. By the way, I'm planning on pairing her up with Ussop, so any suggestions also need to include Ussop being the one to encounter her. As for Papi, I already have a good idea on how to include her. Don't worry though, Lala and Suu will join the story eventually, but not necessarily in this arc though. I'm still brainstorming what to do with them. I do read all reviews and take each one into consideration when writing chapters. This chapter might be on the shorter side, but I am trying harder to make my chapters longer in the future. Especially the ones for the upcoming arc. I have a lot in store for it. Anyway, time for the chapter!**

Mariejois arc: part 13: _The Chef and the Mermaid_

"damn mosshead!" Sanji growled as he was walking down the street. "he thinks that just because he has a girlfriend he's hot shit all of a sudden! If I had a girlfriend, that would really stick it to him."

But knowing his luck, Sanji felt like he would never have a girlfriend at this rate. "it doesn't make sense, I'm the most caring and compassionate for the ladies out of all the us on the crew." Sanji said, his temper flaring up again, but slowly turning back into sorrow. "but….no girls ever seem to share my affection." Sanji said woefully. But then, he heard something.

"Please! Anybody, I could use some help!" a girlish voice said in the distance, but it was getting louder.

"could that be…" Sanji thought, "a damsel in distress?!" Sanji's attitude instantly turned from self-pity to one of courage. He knew that he could not let anyone maiden be harmed if he could prevent it. Then, he saw her. A lady sitting in a wheelchair was speeding downhill on the road, unable to stop.

"please, I can't stop!" she cried out.

Sanji's instincts took control. He leaped in front of the wheelchair and to stop it, then safely grabbed hold of her to cushion her fall.

Sanji scraped his knee in the process, but he would gladly do it again to protect a lady. "are you okay…I hope you are okay." Sanji asked.

"yes, I am…. thank you." She replied softly.

It was then that Sanji got a clear view of her. She was beautiful. She had pink hair. She was wearing a black dress with white frills. But above all, she had a pink mermaid tail. Sanji could not believe how lucky he was at this moment.

"you're…. you're…. A mermaid!" he gasped, filled with glee.

"why yes, my name is Meroune Lorelei, but I usually just go by 'Mero'….do you mind that I am a mermaid?" she asked hesitantly.

"mind" Sanji started, but then paused, trying to gather his thoughts. "I love it! I've always wanted to meet a mermaid! I've always been awestruck by their beauty! And you Mero are no exception."

That last part made her blush quite a bit. "why…thank you, you are too kind, good sir." She said, trying to hide her blushing face. "but what Is your name, if it's not too much trouble."

"oh, right. My name is Sanji, and I'm a professional chef." He said proudly.

"really? Then I would be most delighted to try one of your dishes someday."

"deal" Sanji replied. "by the way Mero, why were you going so fast down the hill just now?"

"oh, that. You see, I was with this woman named Ms. Smith, she told me that I was going to be staying with a group of homestay hosts, and that they were currently having lunch at a restaurant around here." Mero informed Sanji. "I told Ms. Smith that I wanted to explore the city on my own for a bit and find them on my own, but I guess I will have to find this group of people on my own."

Sanji started to gain excitement at this turn of events. "what did she tell you about this 'group' of homestay hosts?" he asked.

"well…" Mero started, trying to remember what Smith told her, "she said that there was a guy named Luffy, and that there was a lady named Nami, and…"

"Mero…" Sanji began, a warm expression grew on his face as he looked at her. "that group that you're talking about, those are my friends. I'm a part of that group."

Mero started to gain an excited tone in her voice. "you mean…" Mero said, her eyes full of hope.

"yes" Sanji replied happily, "my friends and I are your homestay hosts."


	16. Mariejois arc: part 14

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois arc: part 14: _Out on the Town_

"do you really mean it?" Mero asked again, still in disbelief that she will be staying with Sanji. this man who she has just met on the side of the street. Surely it must be true love. or at the very least, that was what Mero was thinking.

"yeah, I mean it." Sanji replied back with a warm smile. "but before we head back to the house where you'll be staying, why don't we go around town for a bit. Would that be fine with you." Sanji asked, with a swift gentlemen's bow, "m'lady."

Mero blushed at Sanji's gesture. "yes, that would be delightful." Mero cupped her hands on her cheeks, trying to hide the blush. "Sir Sanji."

Sanji blushed back as well.

Sanji grabbed the handles of her wheelchair, and off they went. They were going to have an afternoon they would not soon forget. the first stop was a walk through the park.

"oh my, the scenery is absolutely beautiful." Mero said in awe as she looked around at all the fauna.

"yeah, it sure is, but not as beautiful as you." Sanji replied sweetly.

"oh, sir Sanji, you're too kind." Said Mero, once again trying to hide her blush.

After about an hour or so of walking through the park and taking in all the fresh air, they decided to go to the library. Mero said she was very interested in seeing what types of books there were to read.

once they reached the library, the first area that Mero wanted to view was the section on "romance/drama."

"so, you like romance stories I take it?" Sanji asked.

"oh yes, especially ones with tragedy. They are my favorite." Mero stated happily.

"well, if that's what you enjoy, who am I to judge." Sanji replied back.

After a little bit of them picking out books that they wanted to rent, Sanji came to the romance isle with a cook book in his hand. He was surprised to see that Mero had at least six romantic drama novels she wanted to check out.

"wow, when you said you like tragedy novels, you weren't kidding." Sanji said playfully. Mero just smiled back at him.

Now, they decided to head back home. Shortly after they came home and Sanji showed her around the house, everyone else started coming back. Although everyone was caught off guard by Sanji holding hands with a mermaid.

Except for Miia and Cerea, everyone froze in shock.

"d-d-don't tell me….." Ussop stuttered.

"that Sanji has….." Brook moaned in disbelief.

"A GIRLFRIEND?!" exclaimed all the straw hats. All but one though.

"oh please, give me a break." Zoro said walking up to see Sanji.

"isn't it obvious, this isn't his girlfriend, this is all an act, he's staging this to try and one-up me." Zoro explained with an incredibly smug look on his face.

He looked Sanji straight in the eye, challenging his masculinity. "isn't that right, curlybrows? You don't have what it takes to impress a real girl, so you hire one to pretend date you! How low." Then Zoro turned to Mero, he loosened up when he looked at the mermaid. Not trying to scare her or anything. "so ma'am, how much did this douchebag pay you? 100, 200 beli?"

"actually, I do geniunly like sir Sanji." Mero said calmly. "and I don't appreciate you down-talking my boyfriend." Mero said with a firmer tone now.

Zoro's face turned from smug to sheer horror. He couldn't believe his eternal rival has finally achieved such a goal. he refused to believe it.

Now it was Sanji's turn for gloating. "what was that you said earlier about if I get a girlfriend, you'll say my food tastes good." Sanji said with a tone of the highest arrogance.

"…..your…..food…tastes….good." Zoro muttered with disgust.

Before anymore gloating could continue, Ms. Smith entered the house.

"oh, so I see you met your new homestay guest. Good, then here is your paperwork, now I will be going. Have a nice day." And like that, she left, but not without getting a cup of coffee to take with her. "oh, before I forget." she paused at the doorway. "there were some suspicious people hanging around the Thousand Sunny on my way here, you might want to check on that."

"I'll go see what's going on." Ussop stated. "I was going to visit the hardware store around the ship yard, so I'll go check on the Sunny."

So Ussop gathered his trusty gear, and off he went. But not even he is aware of what is waiting for him at the ship yard.


	17. Mariejois arc: part 15

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

 **Author's notes: I'm finally back off my long hiatus, been busy with a lot of school and family-related things the last couple of months. But I'm hoping to get out more chapters on a regular basis. I really means a lot to me that so many of my readers have still been sticking around with my story even though I have had a bad habit of posting irregularly. I know there have been some people asking for me to make my chapters longer, but unfortunately that is just not my style of writing. I do better at writing shorter chapters that focus on 1 or 2 plot points at a time. I've tried writing long chapters before in other stories, but it becomes hard for me to keep track of everything. And again, I'm hoping to upload more to compensate for short chapters. Thanks again for everyone's continuous support!**

Mariejois arc: part 15: _Ussop the brave!_

As Ussop was walking through the streets to check on the thousand sunny, he heard shouting and the sound of various sounds of wood and metal banging against each other. "what on earth could that sound be? I better pick up the pace." Ussop began to break into a run to reach the ship. Once the ship was insight, he saw a group of thugs smashing metal pipes and crowbars against the side of the thousand sunny. They were none other than the Street badgers that Luffy and Miia encountered before.

"hey! Leave that ship alone! Do you guys have a form of decency? You lowly punks!" Ussop shouted in rage. Ussop already had to endure losing the Going Marry, he wasn't going to let them damage the Thousand Sunny.

The thugs turned to face Ussop and started laughing at the sight of Ussop's nose. "what the hell is wrong with this guy, he looks like freaking Pinocchio! Let's see if that nose grows the more we pound him." The leader stated. They began to approach Ussop menacingly. Ussop knew he would have no trouble taking these guys on, he's dealt with much tougher opponents before. Ussop loaded his slingshot with a small pouch of marbles and launched them right at their feet. "special attack: Rolling pain!" Ussop shouted as the sack of marbles burst open at their feet. Two of them moved swiftly out of the way, looking more confused than anything. The third one slipped completely on the marbles and fell face first on the pavement and busted his jawbone. Needless to say, he was out for the count.

"Damnit! You are gonna die now, flute-nose!" the third one took out a short knife and went full on running while shouting a battle cry. Ussop took advantage of his mouth being wide open and shot his signature tabasco star right into his mouth. The guy started to tear up and cough, begging for water. Ussop grabbed one of his pocket hammers and chucked it right at his face while he was distracted by the heat in his mouth. The hammer had smashed him into a couple of crates behind them. it was down to just Ussop and the leader.

"you think you're a tough guy? Huh! Is that it?! I won't lose another fight to some random newbie on the street. You hear me?! I'm the king of the street badgers!" the leader grabbed a gun from his back pocket and pointed in right at Ussop. Ussop didn't have enough time to load in another shot into his slingshot. "I'm taking you out right here right now, got that?" he hissed at Ussop with sheer hatred. But as he started to pull the trigger, he got hit by something that neither Ussop or the thug could see. Before anyone knew what happened, the thug was pinned against a wall, covered in what looked to be some sort of sticky webbing. Ussop walked up to approach the substance, Ussop heard light footsteps behind him, when he turned around to see who is was. He was quite surprised to see a women with short light-purple hair, a nice figure to say the least, but most noteworthy was her spider-like lower body.


	18. Mariejois arc: part 16

Everyday life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois arc: part 16: _Ussop vs. Vermin, an unexpected battle!_

With two of the street badgers knocked out, and their leader webbed to a wall. Ussop quickly thanks the Spider girl that saved his life. "thank you miss, if it wasn't for you I would have been dead by now." Ussop says sheepishly.

Rachnera eyes him with a sharp, untrusting look. "don't bother thanking me, human. I thought it would be fun to web him up and so I took the chance. I wasn't doing to save your sorry butt." Rachnera says coldly. "I'm surprised you haven't run away by now or pissed your pants, considering my appearance. You should be scared out of your mind." Rachnera states.

Ussop looks confused by her words, "I don't know what you mean by that, you don't really seem all the scary to me, and believe me, a lot of things scare me." Ussop says with a light laugh. But Rachnera's stone cold glare doesn't loosen up a bit.

Unbeknownst to them, the street badger leader pinned to the wall was using his pocket knife to cut his way out of the web while they were busy talking.

Ussop asks "what is your name anyway, and what are you doing here to begin with?"

"my name is Rachnera, and my business is none of your concern, human." She says with distaste in her voice.

But before Ussop could respond to her. There was a gunshot that came off from behind them. moments later, Rachnera fell to the floor, her shoulder bleeding from the gunshot, she was in agonizing pain.

Ussop quickly turned to the source of the gunshot to see it was the street badger leader that was webbed up.

The thug stood there with a despicable grin on his face. "that spider lady was an eyesore to look at, but now that she is out of the way, its time to show you what I can really do." He grinned as his body started to morph. His skin turned into rotten filth and his body become only what could be described as a humanoid pile of sewage and dumpster waste. He was turned into some sort of garbage human.

"what…. are you?!" Ussop said in a shocked tone.

The once-normal-looking street punk smiled menacingly at Ussop, and decided to explain what was going on. "my name is Vermin. As you already know, I'm the leader of the street badgers. But I was once the captain of the fearsome 'Roadkill Pirates!' until we decided to lay low and resort to street-level crimes, that way we could avoid the unwanted attention of the navy." He explained. "and my power, it's a logia type ability, I ate the _Trash-Trash Fruit_ , turning my body into a powerful compost machine. I have the power to summon the bacteria and filth around me, as well as being able to transmit any disease of my choosing onto my victims." Vermin stated proudly. "a while ago there was this punk with a straw hat who beat up me and my gang before I had a chance to react. I underestimated him, but I won't make that mistake with you!" Vermin growled viciously.

Ussop, after hearing all this, smiles eagerly. "if what you're saying is true, I'm sure your logia body is made out of primarily biodegradable materials, am I right? And on top of that, those horrible gases coming from your body, that probably makes you a highly flammable target." Ussop says triumphantly.

Vermin just laughs at Ussop's idea. "that won't work on me, because of my advanced haki, my body is no longer susceptible to that weakness." Vermin states proudly. "now enough chit chat, its time for you to ROT AWAY IN MY FILTH!" vermin shouts.

He shoots a giant pile of garbage at Ussop but Ussop quickly rolls to the side. "child's play" Ussop states.

Vermin growls angrily and raises his hands in the air, "I summon the forces of the of foulness." He chants. Suddenly, sewer rats start crawling out of his body and star racing towards Ussop and are ready to pounce.

Ussop reaches into his bag and takes out a small bag of trail mix and tosses it over on the other side of the road. The rats stop in their tracks, and look at the trail mix, and going running towards the snack.

With Vermin caught off guard by this, Ussop launches a pellet filled with alcohol right at vermin's face.

It hits dead center in his face and the alcohol blinds him. "it hurts, it hurts!" he screams.

Ussop says "hope you liked that, but now have a taste of this!" Ussop continues his onslaught of attacks as he shoots a small pouch of paralyzing dust at his opponent. Unfortunately, the paralyzing dust has no affect.

Vermin wipes the alcohol out of his eyes and shoots a concentrated blast of horrendous gas out of his mouth right at Ussop's body. The gas at first glance doesn't appear to do anything. But after a few seconds of inhaling it, Ussop falls onto his knees and is coughing up blood.

Vermin walks over to Ussop with a victorious look on his face. "smell that? That is the power of my wretched gas breath. It is so powerful that it causes internal bleeding after only a few seconds of entering the body." Vermin states proudly. "are you ready to die and rot away into nothing?" vermin asks.

Ussop looks up with a smug smile and already had his next shot loaded into his slingshot. "only if your ready to endure the burning of a lifetime." Ussop says with a cocky tone as he shoots the pellet contained with a small pre-lit fuse.

It hits vermin straight in the face and in a flash his body bursts into flames as he screams in agonizing pain and falls to the ground. After a few minutes have passed and the flames have faded away. Ussop and vermin are laying motionless on the ground still twitching in pain and coughing up blood.

"how….how did you know to use that attack? Even after I told you fire attacks wouldn't work." Vermin asked. "how did you see through by bluff?"

Ussop chuckled at that. And explained "I knew you were lying the whole time, from the facial movements you were making and the look in your eyes. It's the same thing I do when I lie, so I know how to tell when other people are doing it."

Vermin still seemed confused "but I've been a liar for years, I've never had someone seem through my tricks before!" vermin states heatedly.

Ussop snickers at those words and states "you can't out-bullshit the ultimate bullshitter."

Vermin looks at Ussop with a stunned look, but then lightly grins. "I gotta give it to ya man, you got grit. I give ya my respect. Honor amongst liars, am I right?" vermin says.

Ussop's confident grin fades into a stern look. "no, we may both be liars, but there is no honor amongst your kind, you lie to harm and manipulate others. I lie to protect the ones I care about."

Off in one of the corners beside a building where Rachnera limped to during the fight, she spectated the entire thing as it happened. And those words stuck out to her the most "I lie to protect the ones I care about." She thought to herself. She says quietly "perhaps there is more to this human than I thought."

After a few more minutes of Ussop lying there in pain, he eventually passed out, hoping that Rachnera made it to safety.


	19. Mariejois arc: part 17

Everyday life with the Straw Hats

 **Author's notes: I've been seeing a lot of requests for Lala to either end up with Brook or Franky, now I can do either way and still make it work for the story. But I think I will leave it up to a vote for you guys to decide. Leave a review on who you would prefer Lala to end up with and I will take the majority vote into consideration. I've been also seeing some requests for who Suu will end up with, and in all honesty, I'm planning on having either Papi or Suu being paired with Chopper. Now there is still plenty of time for the Lala vote, because she won't be appearing in the story for a bit. (in other words, not in this arc.) but she will appear in the story I assure you that. With that said, make your vote, best of luck to who you want to be picked, and lets get to the story!**

Mariejois arc: part 17: _Ussop and Rachnera_

Ussop started to wake up from the injuries he received with his battle against Vermin. He looked around and he was on the couch back at the house where they were staying. He mumbled to himself, trying to recall what happened after the fight.

"he's awake!" Chopper said sitting on footstool looking over him. Everyone else came into the room to see him. Ussop noticed that Rachnera was standing at the end of the couch watching him without any sort of expression on her face.

"what happened?" Ussop asked with pain in his voice.

"this Spider woman brought you here, and you were both badly injured." Chopper explained. "she had a gunshot in her shoulder and you were suffering severe internal bleeding. She saved your life." Chopper stated. "luckily I was able to patch her up and treat your internal injuries with my medicine."

Ussop looked at Rachnera, confused by what Chopper told him. "you saved me? But….I thought you didn't care about humans like me." Ussop asked.

The rest of the straw hats looked at each other with a concerned face, Nami signaled them to leave the room, she could tell it was important that Rachnera and Ussop have a private talk.

"lets give them some time to themselves" Nami stated. Everyone agreed and went to their own respective rooms.

After they left, it was just the two of them. Rachnera and Ussop, things were silent for a few minutes until Rachnera broke the ice. "that thing you said…during that fight. About being a liar…"Rachnera started, Ussop could see she was getting emotional over what she was trying to say. "you said you lie to protect those you care about…how can I tell if that's true!" she said, with tears of sorrow and anger running down her face. "why should I believe that a human like you who admits to being nothing but a lying trickster?!" her tears were coming out ever harder now, and her voice was rising. "you say you lie for noble cause, but when things get tough or don't go as you planned, I'm sure you'll just abandon the ones who need you because that's all that liars are capable of!" Rachnera shouted, she turned away to hide her tears, but she finished her rant with the sentence "you're just like them….my old host family. I won't be tricked again."

Ussop looked incredibly worried and concerned for Rachnera. He was hesitant to ask about why she was so mad, but he wanted to try and help her. "wh-what happened with your old host family?" he asked.

Rachnera wiped her tears, still not facing him. But she figured she at least owed him an explanation for why she was accusing him of being like them. "when I first came here, I moved in with a family that had a decent home, it was a married couple and their daughter, your typical image of a happy family. However, when they enrolled for the liminal exchange program, I'm sure they wanted someone more cute and cuddly, not someone like me. They tried to act all nice at first, but I could tell they didn't want me here at all, they were liars. And then one day, I accidentally harmed their daughter. That was the breaking point, that's when I was forced out. Ever since I have being living on my own throughout the city, doing as I please." Rachnera explained. Her tears finally stopped and she looked more serious and saddened by those memories.

"they didn't have what it took. They couldn't handle the 30%" Ussop stated, his face now stern and upset after hearing how that family treated her.

Rachnera looked at him, confused by his words. "what do you mean…30%?"

Ussop looked at her. He wanted to explain to her why he was different from that family, and why he could be trusted. " I am a liar, yes. I'm also a pathological coward in most cases. But," Ussop paused, taking a breath. "I know which moments matter the most. I may be a cowardly liar 70% of the time, but the other 30%, when things get serious and the choices you make matter the most in those circumstances, that's when I man up and take one for the team. I won't let my friends be harmed and I will die fighting to protect them. those are the moments that define who you are, those 30% moments in life are the ones I know I have to live up to. Because If I ever want to achieve my dream of becoming a great warrior of the sea, I know I those precious moments that I call the '30%' are what truly define who you are. Just like when I fought vermin earlier today, it wasn't just to protect me, it was also to protect you. That was one of the special moments in life. That was in the 30%" Ussop finished. From the look on Rachnera's face, he could tell she understood what he meant. "when your previous host family abandoned you after the accident, that was one of their significant moments in life, and they made the wrong choice." Ussop said, smiling at Rachnera, "you never leave anyone behind. That's what my friends have taught me."

Rachnera started to become teary eyed again, but this time, they were tears of happiness. She asked with a bit of a nervous tone, "would I be allowed to stay here with you?" Ussop gave her a warm smile, "I'm sure I can work something out with Ms. Smith." He said.

Rachnera was pleased to hear that Ussop was welcoming her into their home to live their. She climbed on top of him and spun him up in her webs, she leaned forward just close enough to where they could feel each others breath. "won't this be fun?" Rachnera asked in a seductive tone. "now we I can be your sexy spider mistress and you can be my webbed bundle of fun. Right honey?"


	20. Mariejois arc: part 18

Everyday life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois arc: part 18: _Setting the stage for something bigger_

It was the next morning, Ms. Smith was sitting in her office drinking her morning coffee while doing paper work. "there, finally got that final paperwork done for the Rachnera to stay with the Straw Hats."

She leaned back in her chair and sighed. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. A young woman was standing there with light brown hair. She was the receptionist. "excuse me Ms. Smith, but he would like to have a word with you." She said with a light tone in her voice.

"who are you talking about?" Smith asked.

The receptionist said in almost a whisper "you know, _The Boss_ , he wants to see you."

Ms. Smith understood, she took one more sip from her coffee and followed the receptionist out the door. She went down one of the side hallways. As she progressed the corridor lights became more and more faded, almost to the point where there were no lights at all. At the end of the room there was an office door. She knocked on the door, and there was a faint voice on the other side that said "come in". she went in, the room was utterly dark, and the only source of light was those from two candles on the desk of the boss. Smith took her seat.

"why did you call for me?" she asked.

The man sitting behind the desk grabbed a handful of small candies he had in a bowl on his desk. "I wanted to ask you if you have made any progress in tracking down our current targets" he said gruffly.

Smith removed her sunglasses and smiled casually, "oh, you mean the MAD organization? I've been keeping up on my research, don't worry about that."

The boss was a bit annoyed by her tone, "this is serious Smith, we need to take them down now before any more casualties or victims are captured by them! stop taking this situation so lightly. The world government is trying to make an alliance with the various liminal nations in the world. The last thing we need is a terrorist organization going around kidnapping liminals. If it continues, it will severely hurt our chances at making alliances with these nations ever again." The boss growled angrily.

Smith folded her sunglasses and put them in her shirt pocket, her face became more serious. "ok listen, I've been able to track down where their current location is, they are residing in a old construction site located on an abandoned island not too far off from here. I'm already planning on arranging a sting operation soon." Smith stated.

"do you think your MON squad will be enough to take them down?" the boss asked.

"I don't think so…. that's why I'm planning on recruiting some help for this mission." Smith said.

"…who…." The boss asked cautiously.

"I think you know who I'm talking about." Smith said with a wink.

"you can't be serious, they're pirates! Their criminals, you can't have them help in this top secret covert op mission!" the boss shouted.

Smith kept her cool and smiled "they're not criminals as long as they remain as home stay hosts, remember that? And keep in mind, they've been through tougher battles than most people." Smith finished.

"you better know what you're doing" the boss said, "your MON unit is an important division to all of CP0, and I will not let anyone tarnish our reputation, not even you agent Smith." The boss said with intensity in his voice.

"I understand, I'll be in complete control of the situation the entire time." Smith said.

"I hope your right, now that will be all for now. Go back to your office." The boss said sternly. "and keep me posted on when you plan on initiating your sting operation against MAD." The boss added.

Smith was about to leave the office but quickly turned to face him and gave him a wink "whatever you say…..Commander Lucci."


	21. Mariejois arc: part 19

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

 **Authors Notes: I'm happy to say that we are fast approaching to the next big event in the story, something that I have been planning for over six months now. And its almost time for it to take place in the story. This chapter is going to be relatively short but that's just because its more about building up what will be happening next. Without further delay, here is the next Chapter!**

Mariejois arc: part 19: _Prelude to the Liminal Tournament_

The Straw Hats were just returning home from doing some Grocery Shopping. Miia had arms locked with Luffy's while he was chewing on a chunk of meat he got from the butcher.

"oh darling, I know how much you love to eat, that's why I want to prepare you a special meal one day filled with my love and passion for you." Miia said romantically.

Luffy looked at her with a happy grin, "as long as you put some meat in it, I'll eat it without hesitation."

Zoro was helping carry in a bag of booze while Cerea was eating a small bag of trail mix she brought with them. "you sure do like your alcohol, don't you master." Cerea said playfully.

Zoro snickered and replied "yeah, this is my version of juice-pouches. I can practically inhale this stuff."

Sanji was carrying Mero through the door. "thank you Sir Sanji for pushing my wheelchair today." She started to "you know, the way you're carrying me right now, its like how a husband carries they bride." Mero said shyly.

Sanji's face turned red, "wh-wh-while of course, it is what gentlemen do! And that's me, Sir Sanji, A gentleman!" he declared boldly. Mero giggled.

When they all made it in the room, smith was sitting at the kitchen table drinking some coffee. "hello everyone, I have an important subject to discuss."

They all came up to her with a confused expression. "have you ever heard of the MAD organization?" she asked with a serious tone. All the straw hats shook their heads no.

"isn't that a terrorist group that goes around kidnapping liminals?" Rachnera asked.

"what a dishonorable thing to do! Preying on others who are outnumbered, such shame!" Cerea stated heatedly.

Ms. smith smiled a little bit but remained composed the entire time. "the reason I bring this up, is because I want your help in taking them down once and for all." She said.

"….how so?" Nami asked, with a skeptical look.

Ms. smith took another sip of her coffee and continued. "there is an island not to far from here, located there is an old construction facility that has been modified into an illegal underground fighting tournament. Many leaders of the black market go there for slave exchange or for gambling on these deathmatches that have become so popular. However, many of the contestants are liminals themselves, and you know the rule about attacking liminals." Smith said, lowering her sunglasses. "that's why we are going undercover for this mission, for this situation and this situation only will I permit you to fight back against these other liminals. They are hardened criminals anyway and they fight to kill when they compete in the arena. I am telling you this because I want your help defeating the MAD organization. They are currently at the tournament most likely doing business with other black market dealers. I need you to help by competing in the tournament as a cover-up for my unit's attack plan. But remember, these guys are tough, so you'll have to fight seriously and don't underestimate the strength of the liminal who you'll be fighting against." Ms. Smith took another sip of her coffee and looked at Luffy, she asked "so, what will it be?"

Luffy grabbed his hat and raised it on top of his head, just like he always does when he's ready for adventure. He smiled eagerly "this sounds exciting, Let's go fight in the liminal Tournament!"

 **Mariejois arc over**

 **Next: Liminal Tournament arc**


	22. Liminal Tournament arc: part 1

Everyday Life with the Straw Hats

 **Authors Notes: it is finally time for the "Liminal Tournament arc" to begin! I just want to thank everybody who has been following my story so far, it really means a lot to me. Now that the Mariejois arc is complete, I have big plans for how the story will progress. I might start trying to answer some of your general questions from now on. I can't guarantee it will be every time I upload a new chapter, but I want to start interacting more with all of my readers. So if you have a question, I might consider answering it depending on the type of question it is. I will only answer general questions in my future "authors notes". Any question that is significantly story-heavy, you'd have to private message me for a response, and even then I can't guarantee I'll answer all story-specific questions because of spoilers. To answer a few quick questions from some of my reviews, I'll make this quick.**

 **At** **The Lizard King:** **I appreciate your suggestion about who the straw hats will fight in the tournament, but I already have their opponents planned out in advance. However, I will be borrowing that hydra devil fruit user idea for a future opponent, when he debuts, I'm sure he will cause quite the "disaster" or "calamity" ;)**

 **at** **Jss2141** **and** **OnePiece99:** **I don't think I will pair zombina and Franky, and in the future you'll understand why.**

 **That's all the questions I'll answer for now, time for the story!**

Liminal Tournament arc: part 1: _Final moments of preparation_

It's been a month and a half since Ms. Smith recruited Luffy and his friends to fight in the liminal tournament. The tournament was going to begin in a few days. But it was time that everybody was ready to sail out to the island where the tournament was being held. Ms. Smith stopped by the house to pick them all up so they could leave on time. Everybody was at the house waiting, except for 4 of them. "what do you mean they aren't here?!" Smith exclaimed, she usually kept her cool, but this time she needed everything to go according to plan, or else she would be getting a major scolding from Commander Lucci when she got back to base. "all right, just…tell me where they went." She asked.

Miia spoke up, "I think darling, Sanji, Zoro and Centorea all went to this nearby fitness center called "sports club kobold" or something like that.

Smith sighed, "all right, everybody pack up your things and meet me at the shipyard in a half an hour. Okay?"

Everybody agreed.

Smith made her way to the fitness center. When she went inside, she was instantly greeted by this cheerful dog/human hybrid liminal.

"hello, my name is Polt! And this is my sports club, would you like a tour around our facility?"

Smith declined her offer, "sorry but, I'm kind of in a hurry, I'm here to pick up three gentlemen and a centaur. Would you by chance know who I'm referring to?"

Polt nodded her yes, "we don't get many human visitors here, so I know exactly who you are referring to! And the centaur girl arrived along with them." polt explained. She started guiding Smith to where they were currently at. "and I must say, those three men are incredibly strong, they have been training hard all day, and they have been showing up almost every day for the past month, and have been working hard the entire time they've been here." Polt stated.

Finally they came to one of the training rooms filled with sparring dumbies, Luffy and Sanji were striking these punching bags with continuous force. Not letting up for a second. After a few moments, Sanji noticed Smith in the corner of his eye. "hey Luffy, Smith is here, I think its time for us to leave" Sanji yelled over to Luffy. Luffy stopped for a second, looked at Sanji and then at Smith. He smiled and exited the training room alongside Sanji.

Smith explained that today was the day they were leaving for the tournament because it would take about a day to reach the island where it was being held. She asked them where Zoro and Centorea were. Sanji pointed to a room across the hall and explained that they have been doing nonstop sword sparring every single day for 8 hours straight. "the only time they aren't sparring is when they come home for dinner and then go to sleep, then next morning after breakfast, they come back here to spar for the rest of the day until dinner." Sanji stated.

Zoro and Cerea came out of the training room to get some water when they also noticed Smith was there.

"pack it up, its time for us to go to the tournament." Smith said.

Cerea spoke up because she wanted to ask something. "excuse me Ms. Smith, but since my master has been training me for the last month, and I've learned a lot from his sword skills. I would like to also fight in the tournament alongside my master, there would be no greater honor." Cerea asked with a grand bow in an effort of trying to convince Smith to say yes.

"fine" Smith said bluntly, "I believe that Zoro has taught you well, and I know that honor is a great priority to your people, so I won't get in the way of your tradition." Smith said with a slight smile. "now enough chit chat, everybody else is waiting for us, its time to go." Smith finished.

And with that they made their way to the shipyard to set sail for the next big adventure for the straw hats. Who knows what darks secrets will be discovered at the Liminal Tournament?

 **To be Continued…**


	23. Liminal Tournament arc: part 2

Everyday life with the Straw Hats

Liminal Tournament arc: part 2: _Miia's concerns_

Everybody was on the ship that they were taking to go to the tournament, is was a navy ship but it was disguised to look like a plain old merchant ship. Since they were going to an illegal underground tournament, they didn't want to raise suspicion by having a Navy flag on their ship.

A few hours later...

Chopper was sitting at his seat groaning in boredom. "just curious Ms. Smith, how much longer until we reach the island?!" Chopper asked, he was trying to be polite about the question, but Smith could tell he was not enjoying the long boring trip.

Smith snickered at Chopper's bored expression. "at this rate, we should be at the tournament grounds in a few more hours, we will need to be quick about docking the ship. Because the tournament starts later on today after we arrive. So there is no time to waste." Smith said, saying it loud enough so everyone else could hear.

Luffy was looking out the window enjoying the view and breeze against his face. Suddenly he felt a gentle touch against his shoulder. He turned around to see Miia with a saddened look on her face.

"darling, are you sure you have to fight in this tournament?" she asked softly.

Luffy looked confused by this, he took a seat and she sat down next to him. "sure I do Miia, but why are you upset about that?" Luffy asked.

"well, because I don't want you to get hurt, and I'm worried about how dangerous it will be." Miia's eyes started to tear up, Luffy started to realize that this was really troubling her. "I don't want to lose you darling! And I'm afraid of what those mean fighters might do to you, please don't fight in the tournament, I want you to be safe with me!" Miia was sobbing now, she laid her face on Luffy's shoulder.

Usually when one of his friends was crying it was because someone hurt them, which resulted in Luffy getting pissed and beating the crap out of whoever did it. However, this was different. There was no one to punch, no one to blame, except himself. Luffy never was in a situation where his own actions brought sadness to his friends. He knew he was not good with words, but he felt he needed to try and comfort Miia. "don't worry Miia, I'll be fine in the tournament. You have nothing to worry about. Trust me when I say I'm a lot stronger than most people realize, and I've fought my way out of many bad situations with nothing but my punches and kicks." He said with a soft smile, trying to comfort her.

Nami was sitting relatively close by and heard their conversation, she chimed in to try to help explain to Miia the list of Luffy's feats. "don't worry Miia, trust all of us when we say that your 'darling' is not someone to mess around with. when he gets threatened or someone he cares about is in danger, he becomes a force of nature that will take down anyone who harms him or his friends." Nami said.

Miia looked up at Nami, a little bit confused, "really? How so….?"

Luffy said to her "remember that time I beat up those punks who were insulting you on our way home from getting groceries, that is an example of how I get when someone messes with me or my friends."

Miia thought back to when that happened, how Luffy defended her honor from those street jerks and beat them to the ground with ease. She started to understand what they meant by when they were saying when Luffy gets mad. Oddly enough, Miia started to blush. She began to fantasize about how Luffy would fight in the tournament, he would be strong, brave, heroic, fighting against all odds, just like how he did for her on the walk back home. He would be like some sort of knight in armor fighting for his friends, just like a true hero would.

"uh…..miia, are you all right?" Luffy asked.

Miia snapped back to reality, she was gripping him tightly with her tail and she was still blushing. "now I understand! Your like those heroic knights in my childhood stories I would read, who would fight through all dangers that came their way to save the princess, and save the day!" Miia said gleefully, her tears completely faded away, all the remained was a shimmer in her eyes of happiness. "of course you can fight in the tournament, I need to see what my hunky hero can do first-hand by watching in the audience. Then maybe after the tournament, when we come back home. We can get frisky all night together in your bedroom, what do you say, darling?!" Miia was clearly getting very excited about this whole situation. And Luffy didn't really know how to respond. Luffy didn't know what the term 'frisky' meant but he assumed it was a type of food, he figured that she wanted to have an all-you-can-eat buffet in his room when they got back. "kay, sounds fun." Luffy responded with a grin.

Nami just facepalmed at Luffy's stupidity. "he's gonna be getting a full-course meal alright, but not in the way he thinks." She thought to herself.

Only a few more hours until they reach the tournament, who knows what strong contenders they will have to fight against in this all-out battle of the strongest?


End file.
